People seem to be confused by the fact that the iPhone4S looks exactly like the iPhone4. What people fail to realize is that is where the similarities end. The iPhone4S contains an A5 dual-core processor, 8mp camera with 1080p video recording, dual-core graphics processor, both CDMA and GSM in the same phone and download speeds of up to 14.4Mbps(double what an iPhone4 can handle).
It wasn't a bunch of hype at all. The iPhone4S has the EXACT same specs that an iPhone5 would have had if they had decided to release an iPhone5 they just didn't redesign the exterior.